There are innumerable applications in a wide range of industries in which it is necessary or desirable to filter or screen granular solid material. For example, in the agriculture industry, it is necessary to filter grain (for example, wheat, barley, and oats) to remove contaminant material prior to refining and processing the grain for human consumption. As another example, in the oil drilling industry, it is often necessary to filter formation cuttings and debris from drilling fluid prior to pumping the drilling fluid to the bottom of a well borehole being drilled. As yet another example, in the mining industry, it is often necessary or desirable to filter or screen ores from formation cuttings prior to further processing.
One common structure for such filters or screens includes an interwoven fabric or mesh of wires. Each of a first plurality of wires extends in a first direction generally parallel to one another, while each of a second plurality of wires extends generally perpendicular to the wires of the first plurality. Each wire extends through the mesh structure weaving over and under (in an alternating pattern) the wires extending perpendicular thereto. The resulting screen includes a plurality of apertures extending therethrough that have a generally square or rectangular cross-sectional shape. Such filters or screens are discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,078,380 to Reynolds, U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,785 to Sander, U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,234 to Cook et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,700 to Bakula.
In another common structure for such filters or screens, a plurality of apertures or holes is formed in a substantially planar sheet of material. Such filters or screens are discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 719,942 to Hermann, U.S. Pat. No. 832,012 to Custard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,496,077 to Wehner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,891 to Bergstrom, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,476 to Kramer.
Filters and screens are often vibrated while passing material therethrough to prevent agglomeration of the material, clogging of the screen, and to increase the overall rate at which the material passes through the screen.
The ability of solid particles of material to pass through a screen is at least partially a function of the size and shape of the granular material and the size and shape of the apertures of the screen. One problem that may be encountered with such filters or screens relates to contaminant matter in the form of elongated particles. For example, if a particular solid granular material comprises generally spherical particles having an average particle size (e.g., diameter), elongated particles of contaminant matter having an average length greater than the average particle size of the granular material, but cross-sectional dimensions that are smaller than the average particle size of the granular material, may be difficult to entirely remove, screen, or filter from the granular material.
A screen as described above may be used in an attempt to remove the elongated particles of contaminant matter from the granular material. The apertures extending through the screen may have a size and shape selected to allow the granular material to pass through the apertures, while preventing as many of the elongated particles of contaminant matter as possible from passing through the apertures. In other words, the apertures in the screen may have cross-sectional dimensions that are greater than the average particle size of the granular material, but less than the length of the elongated particles of contaminant matter. If, however, an elongated particle of contaminant matter has cross-sectional dimensions that are less than the average particle size of the granular material (and the cross-sectional dimensions of the apertures in the screen), and the elongated particle happens to be oriented such that a longitudinal axis of the elongated particle is oriented generally perpendicular to the screen, the elongated particle of contaminant matter may be capable of passing through an aperture in the screen. As a result, such filters or screens may be incapable of removing all elongated particles of contaminant matter from granular solid material.